Lake Placid (film series)

Lake Placid is a series of American monster horror comedy films created by David E. Kelley. Produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, the series began with Lake Placid (1999) directed by Steve Miner, and was followed by five television sequels, Lake Placid 2 (2007) by David Flores, Lake Placid 3 (2010) by Griff Furst, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (2012) by Don Michael Paul, Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015) by A.B. Stone, being a crossover with the Anaconda series, and Lake Placid: Legacy (2018) by Darrell Roodt. Each installment revolves around the presence of giant, 30-foot-long man-eating crocodiles in the fictional location of Black Lake, Maine, and the efforts of various groups to capture or destroy the creatures. All of the films (except for Legacy) reference members of the fictitious Bickerman family.

Lake Placid
Cover for the Blu-ray re-release of the original film
Created byDavid E. Kelley
Original workLake Placid (1999)
Owner20th Century Fox (1–2)
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2–6)
Years1999–2018
Films and television
Film(s)

Background

During the production of the original film, Stan Winston Studios were hired to produce the 30 feet long animatronic crocodile, which was covered in a water-resistant urethane skin and functioned underwater using waterproofed hydraulics.[1] In 2014, following the re-release of the original film on Blu-ray, Daily Dead interviewed director Steve Miner about the production of the film. According to Miner: "The first thing I did when I got on board Lake Placid was send the script over to Stan. Stan went ahead and began building the main 18-20 foot croc out of pocket even before we had locked down our financing or anything like that. He may have spent close to a million dollars on him- it may not have been that much, but it was close. And that’s such a testament to Stan- I kept telling him that I didn’t even know if we were going to be making the darned movie, but he just kept moving ahead. What I didn’t know when I took on Lake Placid was that it had already been turned down by all the studios so when it came time to put the movie together, it was a little more challenging than I originally thought it was going to be. That’s when I brought in Mike Medavoy and he really got this movie done for us. We started making the rounds again and eventually Fox ended up picking up the movie the second time. Mike then brought these French investors over to Stan’s shop to see the crocodile in action and Stan finished that thing up just in the nick of time. It ended up working out so perfectly though because Stan had the croc working perfectly where his jaws would open and close, his eyes and head were able to move around and he could move the other parts and shake him like he was attacking something. That’s what ended up impressing the investors and it’s because of Stan that we were able to finance Lake Placid. Had it not been for him or for Mike, we wouldn’t be talking about it now".[2]

Films

Film U.S. release date Director(s) Screenwriter(s) Producer(s)
Lake Placid July 16, 1999 Steve Miner David E. Kelley Peter Bogart, David E. Kelley & Michael Pressman
Lake Placid 2 April 28, 2007 David Flores Todd Hurvitz & Howie Miller Phillip Roth & Jeffery Beach
Lake Placid 3 August 21, 2010 Griff Furst David Reed
Lake Placid: The Final Chapter September 29, 2012 Don Michael Paul
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda April 25, 2015 A.B. Stone Berkeley Anderson
Lake Placid: Legacy May 28, 2018 Darrell Roodt Jeremy Smith, Matt Venables & Johnathon Lloyd Walker Lance Samuels

Lake Placid (1999)

A group attempts to destroy a giant, 30-foot-long man-eating crocodile, which terrorizes Black Lake, Maine.

Lake Placid 2 (2007)

In the sequel to the feature film, man-eating crocodiles return to the lake as two males and one aggressive female crocodile, which is protecting her nest, wreak havoc on the locals.

Lake Placid 3 (2010)

A game warden moves his family to Lake Placid, once the site of deadly crocodile attacks. Locals assure him the crocs are gone, but his mischievous young son finds a few baby crocs and begins feeding them. They quickly grow into very big adults and start attacking the game warden's family and nearby town.

Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (2012)

Reba the poacher is back, now an EPA agent. Black Lake is turned into a crocodile sanctuary surrounded by an electric fence. When the fence gets left open one night, a high-school field trip bus unknowingly enters the park. It's up to Reba and the sheriff to save the kids from becoming crocodile chow.

Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015)

In Black Lake, Maine, an accident allows the two giant species, crocodiles and anacondas, to be regenerated and they escape towards Clear Lake. Now, Reba teams up with Tully to find his daughter Bethany and a group of sorority girls in a deadly match between the two creatures.

Lake Placid: Legacy (2018)

A group of young explorers discover a secret area hidden from all maps and GPS devices. When they reach the center of the lake, they discover an abandoned facility that houses one of the largest and deadliest apex-predators known to man. Rather than a sequel, Legacy is considered to be a stand-alone installment and is the only film in the series to not feature or reference the Bickerman family, declaring it a reboot.

Cast and crew

Cast

Key
  • An A indicates an appearance through archival footage.
  • A dark gray cell indicates the character was not in the film.
Character Films
Lake Placid Lake Placid 2 Lake Placid 3 Lake Placid:
The Final Chapter
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda Lake Placid:
Legacy
1999 2007 2010 2012 2015 2018
Jack Wells Bill Pullman  
Kelly Scott Bridget Fonda  
Hector Cyr Oliver Platt  
Sheriff Hank Keough Brendan Gleeson  
Deputy Sharon Gare Meredith Salenger  
Sheriff James Riley   John Schneider  
Emily "Emma" Warner   Sarah Lafleur  
Jack Struthers   Sam McMurray  
Scott Riley   Chad Michael Collins Chad Michael CollinsA  
Kerri   Alicia Ziegler Alicia ZieglerA  
Ahmad Andrews   Joe Holt  
Thad Hyland   Ian Reed Kesler  
Larry Willis   Justin Urich  
Reba   Yancy Butler  
Ellie   Kacey Clarke  
Brett Willies   Mark Evans  
Aaron Fitzgerald   Nils Hognestad  
Tara Kendrick   Angelica Penn  
Charlie Berman   Brian Landon  
Sheriff Tony Willinger   Michael Ironside  
Sheriff Theresa Giove   Elisabeth Röhm  
Ryan Loflin   Paul Nicholls  
Chloe Giove   Poppy Lee Friar  
Max Loflin   Benedict Smith  
Elaine Ford   Caroline Ford  
Brittany Fanning   Scarlett Byrne  
Drew   Daniel Black  
Deputy Nermal   Jeff Stewart  
Will "Tully" Tull   Corin Nemec  
Bethany Tull   Skye Lourie  
Sarah Murdoch   Annabel Wright  
Beach   Stephen Billington  
Tiffani Jones   Laura Dale  
Margo   Ali Eagle  
Deputy Ferguson   Oliver Walker  
Jade   Katherine Barrell
Sam   Tim Rozon
Alice   Sai Bennett
Henderson   Joe Pantoliano
The Bickermans
Delores Bickerman Betty White Betty WhiteP   Mentioned  
Sadie Bickerman   Cloris Leachman Cloris LeachmanA  
Nathan Bickerman   Colin Ferguson  
Susan Bickerman   Kirsty Mitchell  
Connor Bickerman   Jordan Grehs  
Jim Bickerman   Robert Englund  

Crew

Role Film
Lake Placid Lake Placid 2 Lake Placid 3 Lake Placid:
The Final Chapter
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda Lake Placid:
Legacy
1999 2007 2010 2012 2015 2018
Composer John Ottman Nathan Furst Frederik Wiedmann Claude Foisy James Matthes
Andries Smit
Editor Paul Hirsch
Marshall Harvey
John Quinn Matt Michael John Quinn Cameron Hallenbeck Christopher Minns
Cinematographer Daryn Okada Lorenzo Senatore Anton Bakarski Martin Chichov Ivo Peitchev Trevor Calverley
Production companies Phoenix Pictures Sci-Fi Pictures Stage 6 Films
UFO International
UFO International Destination Films
UFO International
Destination Films
Blue Ice Pictures
Out of Africa Entertainment
Distributor 20th Century Fox 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Running time 82 minutes 88 minutes 96 minutes 90 minutes 92 minutes 93 minutes

Reception

Critical and public response

Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore
Lake Placid 47% (95 reviews)[3] 34 (25 reviews)[4] C[5]
Lake Placid 2 11% (9 reviews)[6]
Lake Placid 3
Lake Placid: The Final Chapter
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda
Lake Placid: Legacy

Music

Soundtracks

Title U.S. release date Length Composer(s) Label
Lake Placid: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack July 27, 1999 47:00 John Ottman Varèse Sarabande
Lake Placid 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack August 12, 2008 24:00 Nathan Furst Lakeshore Records

Other media

Video games

Lake Placid: Croc Drop is an interactive game produced in 1999 to promote the film Lake Placid from the same year.[7]

Lake Placid 2: Croc Alley is an interactive game produced in 2007 to promote the film Lake Placid 2 from the same year.[8][9][10]

References

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